Process of and apparatus for manufacturing gas



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

H, M. PIERSON.

PROCESS or AND APPARATUS OR MANUFACTURING GAS. No. 279,010. Patented June 5,1883.

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(No Model.) s Sheefis-Sheet 2.

H. M. PIERSON.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING GAS. No. 279,010. Patented June 5,1883.

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(No Model.) s Shets-Sheet 3. H. M. PIER-SON.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING GAS. No. 279,010. Patented June 5,1883.

N. PETERS, FlloloLil'ncgmphcn Washington. D. c.

UNIT D STATES:

PATENT OFFIC HENRY M. PIERSON, or BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 279,010, dated June 5, 1883 Application filed February 26, 1883; (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: v

Be it known that-I, HENRY M. PIERSQN, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Processes of and Apparatus for Manufacturing Gas, of which the following is a specifica tion.

Apparatus for making illuminating and nonilluminating gases have been constructed in which steam in aheated condition, either alone or commingled with hydrocarbon vapors, have been passed up through an incandescent bed of fuel, or else down through the same, to or combine the gases, and in some instances the steam has been highly heated before coming into contact with such carbon.

Reference is hereby ents, Nos. 130, 383 and 167,847; to Strong, No. 197,062, the H. M. and J. S. Pierson patent, No. 269,162, and the Frost patent, No. 226, 397 for apparatus that may be regarded as types ofthe general kinds of gasmaking to which my improvements are available. In these modes of making gas it has been necessary to employ anthracite coal exclusively, or nearlyso. Otherwise two sources of difficulty arise. The first is that the coal melts and becomes so adhesive that the air will not pass freely through the same, neither will the superheated steam or gases. Besides this, the soft coal does not desend by gravity, even ifthe retorts are opened and the .fucl sliced down from the top orraked from the bottom. So, hence, it is nearly impossible to cause the fuel to settle, and gas cannot be practically produced.

My invention is for the purpose of allowing bituminous coal to be made use of in gas-making apparatus of the general character before mentioned;- and it consists in combining with the generator or chamber containing the incandescent bed of fuel, a coker that is constructed in such a manner that the charge can be introduced in small quantities and the gases passed off therefrom and employed in heating up the apparatus and in making illuminating or heating gas, and then, after the soft coal has become coked, the same is passed directly into the generator, and is better adapted to form the incandescent bed of fuel for the gas-generator than the anthracite coal employed in the app. ratus before named.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view.

made to the Low pat-' Fig. 2 is a vertical section at the line a: m, and Fig. 3 is a partial section at the line y 1 For convenience of illustration, it is to be presumed that A is the generator, 0 the decomposer, and F the superheater, corresponding generally with the same similarly-marked devices in the Patent No. 269,162, and a reference is hereby made to said patent for a 6c more detailed description of these parts and their mode of operation.

The chamber E, Fig. 3, corresponds gen erally with the snperheater E in said patent, and the chamber B to the commingler B in said patent. In my improvement I make use of one or more sets of cokers. I have shown two sets of cokers marked, respectively, -L and M; but as they are both alike I will only de scribe the same as if there were but one.

It is preferable to divide the coker into four chambers, 11 12,13 14, the same being formed of fire-brick clay, cast-iron, orother suitable material. There is a front plate, 5, and a mov able gas-tight cover to each coking-chamber, and descending fines at the end adjacent to the front plate, as a- 16; and I prefer to have a horizontal flue, 17, beneath each of the lower chambers, 13 14. The coking-chambers are enveloped in a suitable wrought-iron case, v8o which retains the heat and keeps the parts in their proper places.

I11 starting the apparatus it is preferable to A introduce coke or anthracite coal. in the generator A and in the decompose]? C, if the same 85, is used, and to tire up in the manner set forth in said Patent No. 269 162, all owing the products of combustion to pass off by the escape-flue D. After the fire has been kindled a charge of bi tuminous coal introduced into one of the chambers-say the chamber ll-and the heating is then continued, and a supply of atmospheric air admitted at 7 causes the gases evolved to burn and aid in heatingthe superheaters E F. p The valve h is then closed, the 5 supply of air shut off, and steam is admitted at [17, which becomes highly superheated in F and E, and passes through the coker, carrying with it gases that are evolved. These descend through the fire in the decomposer O, thence they pass through the commingler B, and at this place petroleum or other liquid hydrocarbon is added by the pipe 7;, if it is desired to make illuminating-gas; but if non'luminous used.

gas is being made such petroleum is not required. The gases then pass through the second coker B and the generator A, and are taken away by the pipe I. It is, however, to be understood that the places at which the steam and the oil are supplied will vary according to the character of the apparatus. to which this improvement is applied. These operations are repeated as soon as the apparatus becomes too low in tempe -aturethat is to say, a supply of soft coal is next introduced in the coker'12 and air admitted and the valve h opened to heat up the apparatus, afterwhich the valve-h is closed, the air-supply shut off, and the gas-making resumed. The next and fourth time the apparatusrequires reheating, the supply of .bituminous coal is inserted intothe chambers v13. and 1i, respectively and the fifth time the apparatus requires to be heated, the coke is pushed back out of the' chamberll and a fresh supply. of bituminous coal inserted ,and so on in succession each. chamber is discharged. of cokeand chargedwith soft coal. .The coke falls into the generator or decomposer, asthe casemay be, and forms the incandescent bed. of fuel for the steam orgases to pass up or down through the same, as thecase may be, iumaking non-lu minous or illuminating gases, according to the mode in which the apparatus is worked.

I remark that I prefer to use four. chambers in each coker, but two, three, or more may be Itis preferable to use more than one, or else the fuel will. not have sufficient time for coking.

Any suitable scoop maybe used for introducing the soft coal into the coking-chambers similar to that employed in, gas-retorts, and I remark that it is preferable to employ a damper or plate of iron introduced into the chamber to cover the flue-opening 16 before the coa-lis inserted, to preventthe fuel falling into. such flue; but the flue may go off at theside, if.

' desired, so as to dispense witl'rthe openingdn the bottom of the chamber.

In cases where this improvementis. applied to such rctorts as are u'sedin the Low,.the Frost, or the Strong patents, before referred to, the operation of the coking-cha1nbers .will be the same as before set forth; butthe directions in which thesteam and gases travel, and the places where the steam and air are introduced will vary. Under all circumstances. the coking operation will be performed in the chambers, so that when the coke is passed into the generator or "deeomposer such-coke will become part of the bed ofincandescentfuel,

.riodically and successively and it will burn away gradually and will not adhere or clog in the vertical generator or and the coke itself, being very pothe steam and gases to decompose the steam and fix the gases as efficiently, if not more so, than the anthracite coal; heretofore employed. K

In cases where this improveme itis used in an apparatus that is not kept in constant operation the coking operation will stop when the gas-making is suspended, and the coking will be resumed when the blast is applied to chamber, rous, will act upon 1 intensify the fire.

I: claim as my invention- 1. The method herein specified of manufacturing with soft coal, consisting in supplying the soft coal periodically and successively into separate cokingchainbers, deliveringv the coke progressively in a state of incandescence upon bed of incandescent coke, causing air through such incandescent coke for to pass promoting combustion and heating up the apparatus, and then passing superheated steam through the eoking-retort, and the gases from 'the coal and the steam through the bed of incandescent coke for the manufacture of gas after:theatmosphere has stantially. as sp ecifiedl 2. The combination,

been excluded, sub

in, a gas-making apparatus, of. a generator or chamber for incandes' cent fuel, a superheater, one or more separate coking-chambers, forming. ameans of communication between the superheating-chamber and gene at-or pipes and cocks for supplying steam through the superheater and cokingchamber and incandescent coke in gas-making, andfor admitting air in heating up the apparatus when the gas-making is suspended, substantially as set forth.

3. The method herein specified of manufacturing gas, consisting'in' supplying soft coal peinto retorts, coking the soft coal by heat from an incandescent bed of fuel, burning the gases evolved from the coal within the gasunaking apparatus to heat the same, and adding the coke periodically to the bed of incandescent fuel, and causing the superheated steam to pass through the cokingretort, and the steam and gases topass through such incandescent bed of coke to fix the same, substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 23d day of February, A. D. .1883.

H. M. PIERSON.

\Vitnesses:

G120. .T..Pil\'eKNEr, Trimmer G. Morr. 

